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Gunn, Peebles to receive Crafoord Prize

Posted January 28, 2005; 06:11 p.m.

by Steven Schultz

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has chosen Princeton astrophysicists James Gunn and James Peebles to receive the 2005 Crafoord Prize, a rare honor in their field.

Gunn and Peebles, who were cited "for contributions toward
understanding the large-scale structure of the universe," shared the
prize with Martin Rees, of Cambridge University. The award, which
includes a $500,000 cash prize, has been given annually since 1980 for
outstanding contributions in several fields including mathematics,
geosciences, biosciences and astronomy. The 2005 award is the fifth given
in the field of astronomy.

Gunn, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy, and Peebles, the
Albert Einstein Professor of Science Emeritus, are both longstanding
leaders in understanding the origin, development and current structure
of the universe.

"In the broadest terms, there are three main areas of astronomy
research: theory, observation and instrumentation," said Scott Tremaine, chair of Princeton's Department of Astrophysical Sciences. "Most researchers
specialize in one of these areas, and a few have made substantial
contributions to two. Jim Gunn has had an outstanding scientific impact
in all three."

Regarding Peebles, Daniel Marlow, chair of Princeton's Department of Physics,
said, "The physics department is extremely proud to have as one of its
members a person who has played such a key role in developing an area
that is of great fundamental interest to scientists and non-scientists
alike."

Peebles' theoretical calculations in the 1960s predicted the existence
and properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation, which has
since been established as a key piece of evidence supporting the big
bang theory of the universe. Over the decades, Peeples made many other
important contributions to the field, including the prediction that
galaxies must be surrounded by large quantities of "dark matter," which
is now believed to be a major constituent of the universe.

Gunn's early theoretical work helped establish the current
understanding of how galaxies form and properties of the space between
galaxies. He also suggested important observational tests to confirm
the presence of dark matter in galaxies. Much of Gunn's later work has
involved leadership in major observational projects. He developed plans
for one of the first uses of digital camera technology for space
observation, a project that led to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the
most extensive three-dimensional mapping of the universe ever
undertaken.

Gunn received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in
1966 and joined the Princeton faculty two years later. Among other
honors, he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of
London and, earlier this month, the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship,
the highest honor of the American Astronomical Society.

Peebles received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1962 and spent three years
as a postdoctoral fellow before joining the faculty. He has
received many awards and honors, including the newly established $1
million Shaw Prize in Astronomy in 2004.